Terms of Service

By creating an account or using the AI Trace platform (“Service”), you (“User”) accept these Terms of Service. If you do not accept them, do not create an account or use the Service.

You must be at least 13 years old. You must provide accurate registration information. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials.

The Service provides research data on AI deployments by public agencies and major institutions. You agree to use the Service only for lawful research, reporting, and policy work. You agree not to:

• Republish bulk data without attribution.
• Use the API to enable downstream services without prior agreement.
• Attempt to access accounts, data, or systems you are not authorized to access.
• Use automated tools, bots, scrapers, or other programmatic means to access, collect, or download data from the portal except through the documented API with a valid API key and within the published rate limits. Circumventing or attempting to circumvent rate limits, authentication, or access controls is prohibited.
• Use data obtained from AI Trace to train, fine-tune, or evaluate machine-learning models or artificial-intelligence systems without prior written permission from Trace Foundation, Inc.
• Use data from AI Trace to identify, target, harass, or discriminate against any individual, including government employees, based on their employer’s AI practices as documented on this platform.

The factual data available through AI Trace (company names, AI practice descriptions, evidence citations) is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC-BY-SA 4.0). You may share and adapt the data for any purpose, including commercial, provided you give appropriate credit to AI Trace (including a link to aitrace.org and the date of retrieval) and distribute any derivative works under the same license. The CC-BY-SA 4.0 license applies only to the factual data; the portal software, design, and branding remain the property of Trace Foundation, Inc.

When citing data from AI Trace, use: “Source: AI Trace (aitrace.org), retrieved [date].” For academic citation, use the format specified at aitrace.org/methodology.

Use of the Service is governed by the Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these terms by reference.

Researcher and Government tiers grant access to additional features. AI Trace may verify domain affiliation, institutional employment, or other eligibility criteria before granting these tiers. Misrepresentation may result in account suspension.

The Service is provided “as is.” AI Trace does not warrant that the data is complete, current, or fit for any particular purpose. Decisions made based on the data are the sole responsibility of the User.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Trace Foundation’s total liability to you for any claims arising from your use of the Service shall not exceed the amount you have paid to Trace Foundation in the twelve months preceding the claim, or fifty dollars (US$50), whichever is greater. In no event shall Trace Foundation be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Trace Foundation, Inc., its officers, directors, and volunteers from any claims, damages, or expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your use of the Service or violation of these Terms.

If you believe content on AI Trace infringes your copyright, please send a notice to our designated agent at [email protected] containing: (1) identification of the copyrighted work, (2) identification of the allegedly infringing material with a URL, (3) your contact information, (4) a statement of good-faith belief that the use is not authorized, and (5) a statement under penalty of perjury that the information is accurate. We will respond within 10 business days.

AI Trace may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms. You may request account deletion by emailing [email protected]. We will process deletion requests within 30 days. Upon deletion, your account data (display name, email, watchlists, notes, comparisons, and briefing history) will be permanently removed. Anonymized usage data and audit records may be retained for legal compliance purposes.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any dispute arising under these Terms shall be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, and the parties consent to personal jurisdiction in those courts.

AI Trace may revise these terms. Material revisions trigger a re-acceptance prompt on your next sign-in. Continued use after re-acceptance constitutes agreement to the revised terms.